Cycling on city streets is risky business as stubborn urban challenges keep cycle lanes either non-existent or unused. New-age bike-sharing apps trying to fill the space are finding it difficult to grow without demand, while pollution watchers are in despair.
Road safety is one of the top reasons why Indians shy away from adopting the practice, inconvenient weather, long distances or excess pollution, one found. 2014 survey Energy and Resources Institute. In 2020, bicycle road deaths rose 2.5% to a seven-year high, even as total accident deaths fell to an 11-year low. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, the share of bicycle deaths in all accidents, although small, is increasing. In larger cities, the share is higher despite low bicycle ownership.
While bicycle ownership has remained stable over the past 15 years, their use for travel has declined as cars and motorcycles have become ubiquitous. According to the National Transport Development Policy Committee, 2013, the ideal model share of bicycles in over a million cities should be 10-12%. However, many of our cities fail to meet this standard. In Delhi, it is below 5%, after falling more than 30 percentage points since the 1950s.
infra challenge
Bicycles require a fairly low-cost infrastructure, and small investments can go a long way. Transportation experts say safe cycling facilities could be integrated into road projects with about 10% additional funding. A survey by the Chandigarh Administration found that basic elements such as lack of lighting, open manholes, uncut trees and unsafe junctions can be deterrents for cyclists. Although data is not available, anecdotes suggest that the city has seen an increase in cyclists over the years following efforts to address such challenges. There have been many bicycle accidents in the city in the past as well.
SmartBikes, a bike sharing company, has 2,500 public bicycles with 310 docking stations in Chandigarh alone, and is running its operations in collaboration with the Municipal Corporation. Chandigarh Municipal Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “On acche din, 2,200-2,500 rides are seen in an instant. Encouraged by the response, we plan to increase the number of cycles to 5,000 and docking stations to 617.”
finding money
The metro rail network has made docking stations for public bikes a common sight in other cities as well. The Metro Rail Policy 2017 had also called for public bike sharing (PBS) stations to expand feeder services. But low rental fees and high capex requirements have become a dampener.
Shreyansh Shah, associate director of app-based cycle-sharing service, MYBYK, called upon the government to bear the capex, considering PBS as an extension of public transport. If that happens, “we are ready to take the revenue risk for 5-7 years of the project”, he said.
However, the government may not be on board. Smart Cities Mission Joint Secretary Kunal Kumar said that PBS will be viable only when cycling becomes a popular option. ,[Greater] The demand for cycling, not a risk-free model, is the way to go,” he said.
Shah said PBS companies are exploring alternative options, including funding under the National Clean Air Program, for which some cities have shown interest.
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car vs bicycle
The National Urban Transport Policy states that people, not vehicles, should be the focus of the road sector. However, roads in India generally follow the reverse hierarchical order. A bus carrying 20 times more passengers than a private car takes up just 2.5 times the space. Nevertheless, the space occupied by cars on Indian roads has grown rapidly, eroding bicycles along the way.
Congestion pricing on personal vehicles can free up space for others, including Bicycles, Parking space is also an inefficient use of real estate in Indian cities, with their nominal parking charges. Experts say that the same space could be used to build cycle parking stations or drinking water and rest centers for cyclists.
However, such solutions are “easier than said”, Kumar said. “European cities have policies that have arrived after decades of effort,” Kumar said. He said the solution is multimodal, and the focus should be on expanding the set of choices for commuters and making them decision.